Sappi North America Announces Recipients of the 17th Ideas that Matter Grant

BOSTON, September 20, 2016 /3BL Media/ - Sappi North America, a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper and packaging products, today announced the eight grant recipients of its 17th annual Ideas that Matter program, where financial support is given to designer applicants who create and implement print projects for social impact.

This year's eight winning projects highlight how designers can use the power of paper and print for social impact. The winning projects were chosen for the effective way they address pressing social issues including rural healthcare and pharmaceutical misuse, literacy, childhood development and the importance of play, education and leadership in war-challenged international communities, girls and youth development and traumatic health issues for children and their families.

Since 1999, as an integral part of Sappi's corporate social responsibility platform, the Ideas that Matter grant program has funded over 500 nonprofit projects and has contributed more than $13 million to a wide range of causes that use design as a positive force in society. The program is open to North American designers who have partnered with a nonprofit organization and developed a communication campaign that is ready for implementation.

"For nearly two decades, Ideas that Matter has been a cornerstone in Sappi North America’s corporate responsibility efforts. We truly believe in the role design can play in helping to solve complex social issues. And, by supporting the work of designers who are developing print communications for causes, we know that Ideas that Matter is an important participant in the design for social good movement,” said Patti Groh, Marketing Communications Director, Sappi North America. "This year’s grant recipients truly see the potential global impact of their work and we could not be more excited to see these projects come to fruition.”

The 2016 Ideas that Matter Recipients:

Designer, Firm

Project Title

Project Description

Nonprofit to Benefit from The Grant

Sam Aquillano--Design Museum Foundation

Extraordinary Playscapes

Playground Passports,

outdoor kiosks, a website,

and a catalog will be

created to amplify the reach

of a national traveling

exhibition on the design

and importance of

imaginative outdoor play.

Design Museum Foundation

Brian Dempsey--The Blank Page

SOLA Case Statement and Website

A printed case statement and redesigned website will feature the work of illustrators depicting life at SOLA—where girls in Afghanistan can receive quality education in a safe and healthy environment.

SOLA – School of Leadership, Afghanistan

Graphic Design MFA Program at MICA

The Growing Girls Project

Growing Girls Project-- laying the foundation for a

lifetime of sexual and

reproductive health by

supporting young girls in

Baltimore with innovative

puberty educational tools.

Lerner Center for Public

Health Promotion at Johns

Hopkins

Piedad Rivandeneira- Felicidad

All America: We See Changemakers Everywhere

A print publication that will feature outstanding, inspirational stories about social innovators from all corners of the U.S., and from all groups, showcasing the changemaking energy in this country for Ashoka’s initiative All America.

Ashoka

Susan Verba and Sarah Perrault, Center for Design in the Public Interest (DiPi) at the University of California, Davis

A compiled anthology of student work from each of 826’s seven chapters. 826 National is a network of nonprofit organizations dedicated to inspiring students to cultivate their writing skills—encouraging them to share their voices, explore creativity and imagine a brighter future.

826 National

Mai Kobori, Eulani Labay, Amy Findeiss--Parsons the New School for Design

Blank Plate – Trainer’s Playbook

The Blank Plate Trainer’s Playbook is a toolkit and workbook that incorporates Blank Plate’s 10-week culinary design curriculum, empowering community leaders to become facilitators.

The Point CDC/Various NYCEDC sites

Alvin Oei—ArtCenter College of Design, Designmatters

The Healing Tree: The Safe Niño’s Project

A storybook, patient passport and environmental graphic system to guide children and their families through burn treatment plans in Latin America.

COANIQUEM BCF, The Burned Children Foundation

For more information about Sappi's 2016 Ideas that Matter grant recipients in North America, please visit our website. The Call for Entries for next year's Ideas that Matter program will be announced in the Spring of 2017.

Selection Criteria

Ideas that Matter proposals are evaluated on creativity, plans for implementation and potential impact by an independent panel of judges who are selected annually and are recognized for their commitment to design for social impact. The 2016 judges were: Sarah Brooks, Director, Insight & Design, Customer Experience Office at Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C.; Vicky Jones, Vice President, Brand Strategy & Creative at Phase 3 Marketing and Communications in Atlanta; Andrew Shea, Principal at MANY, a multidisciplinary design studio in New York, and; Christopher Simmons, Principal and Creative Director of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE™.

About Sappi North America

Sappi North America, headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses – high quality Coated Printing Papers, Specialised Cellulose, Release Papers and Specialty Packaging – is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high quality Coated Printing Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Specialised Cellulose used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods, and one of the world's leading suppliers of Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEX, Classics and Neoterix lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Our Specialty Packaging products, such as LusterPrint and LusterCote, represent an important asset in the food packaging and labeling industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 13,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at: www.sappi.com/na.